Stottlemyre Returns Tonight

Three months ago, Arizona pitcher Todd Stottlemyre tore his right rotator cuff, an injury that almost always means surgery, a year or more of rehabilitation and maybe the end of a pitcher’s career.

Yet tonight, Stottlemyre will be on the mound as Arizona’s starter in Pittsburgh.

The cuff is still torn. The right-hander refused surgery and opted for an intense strengthening program instead.

“I don’t feel like I’m taking the mound with any disabilities or that I’m somehow not able to pitch,” he said. “I have no fear of letting go with that first pitch.”

But his next pitch could be his last.

“We tell him he may pitch one pitch and that will be it, or he may pitch the next five years,” team doctor David Zeman said.

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Pete Schourek will miss his next scheduled start for the Pittsburgh Pirates because of an inflamed left shoulder and might go on the disabled list. . . . St. Louis outfielder Darren Bragg will sit out the rest of the season after surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.